Cigarette holder



July 13, 1965 M. l. MANTCHEV CIGARETTE HOLDER Filed Sept. 18, 1963INVENTOR MARCO IIVANOV, MANTCHEV BY m ATTORNEY United States Patent3,194,246 QIGARETTE HOLDER Marco Ivanov Mantchev, Rua 13 de Maio, 466'Caixa Postal 8536, Sao Paulo, Brazil Filed Sept. 18, 1963, Ser. No.309,823 2 Claims. '(Cl. 131208) The present invention relates to afilter for cigarettes and the like and more particularly to a disposablecigarette holder of the filter type.

With the accumulated evidence of the deleterious effect of nicotine andtars in tobacco smoke, there is an increased desire on the part of thepublic to obtain a more effective filter for cigarettes. One of theearliest filters to appear on the market was incorporated into acigarette holder. This filter, in the form of a cartridge filled withsmall crystals, was changed daily and it was also necessary to dailyclean the holder of accumulated tar.

Recently, the cigarette industry tried to solve this problem bymanufacturing cigarettes with built-in filter tips. These filter tipcigarettes were introduced to the public under various new trade namesbut the more popular name brands were still manufactured without filtertips. While some smokers switched to the new filter tip cigarettes, manysmokers preferred their old, favorite brands and were thus deprived ofthe advantages and benefits of filtered cigarettes. This is one of themain reasons that filtered cigarettes were not completely accepted bythe smoking public.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is the provisionof a new and improved cigarette holder which will enable every smoker tosmoke any brand of cigarette with or without filter, and be assured theprotection afforded by a highly filtered cigarette.

The cigarette holder of the present invention includes a pair of filterelements incorporated therein with means associated with one of thefilter elements to indicate that the holder has lost its effectivenessand should be discarded. Thus, a further important object of theinvention is to provide a cigarette holder having indicating meansprovided therein to indicate that same should be discarded when itbecomes inefliective.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a cigarette holder whichis attractive in appearance, very light in weight and which can beinexpensively manufactured.

The above and other objects of the invention will be more clearlyunderstood from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional exploded view of the cigaretteholder forming the subject matter of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional View of the cigarette holder in assembledposition; and

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view of one of the elements of the cigaretteholder.

Referring to the drawing in detail, numeral designates a mouthpieceformed of any suitable material but preferably formed of smooth flexiblematerial to provide a proper and hygienic grip by the smokers teeth. Acylindrical portion 11 extends from the mouthpiece and receives thereina portion of a transparent cylindrical sleeve 12, having a raisedcentral ridge 13 thereon for a purpose to be described.

3,194,246 Patented July 13, 1965 ice A second cylindrical sleeve 14,formed of paper, aluminum laminated paper, plastic material or the like,is adapted to receive a filter element 15 formed of any suitablefiltering material such as natural fiber of cotton or wool, syntheticfibers, activated carbon or small crushed crystals of quartz, glass orthe like. The filter element is disposed centrally of the sleeve 14 toenable one end of the sleeve to embrace a portion of the transparentsleeve 12. As seen in FIGURE 2, portions of the sleeve 12 are receivedwithin the cylindrical portion 11 of the mouthpiece and one end of thesleeve 14 with a press fit, the ridge 13 serving as a stop for 11 and 14and forming a smooth continuation of the mouthpiece, the transparentsleeve and the filter sleeve. Received within the outer open end ofsleeve 14 is a metallic ring 16 within which the cigarette is received.

A second filter element 17 is received within the transparent sleeve 12and may be formed of the same filtering material as element 15. A thincylindrical tube 18 of blotting material surrounds the filter element 17and with said filter element are snugly received within said transparentsleeve 12 as seen in FIGURES 1 and 2. Positioned centrally of the tube18 and circumferentially thereof are indicia characters G and D asindicated in FIGURE 3. Character G which may indicate the word good isprinted on the blotting paper with dark brown ink or the like. Thecharacter D shown in dotted lines is used to indicate the word discardand is printed on the blotting paper with any white oil paint. The whiteoil paint will prevent that portion of the blotting paper from absorbingany tar. Thus, as numerous cigarettes are smoked, the tar passingthrough the filter member 17 will be absorbed by the blotting paper andgradually turn the same dark brown or black. As a result of thistar-absorbing, the visible character letter G will graually disappear,and the character letter D, being protected from absobing any tar, willbecome visible and readable. When the letter G is no longer visible, thesmoker is warned that the filter is fully saturated with tar and nolonger etfective as a filter and that the cigarette holder should bediscarded. It has been found that the present holder is eifective for atleast twenty cigarettes and for as many as sixty cigarettes. Thecigarette holder is preferably constructed in the size of a cigaretteand can be shipped in a cigarette pack by replacement of a singlecigarette.

It will be apparent that the present invention is Well adapted toaccomplish the objects and advantages set forth. Although a preferredembodiment of the invention has been shown and described, minor changesin the details of construction may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention except as may be required by the followingclaims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A cigarette holder comprising a transparent casing, a mouthpiececonnected to one end of the casing and a tubular cigarette receivingsleeve connected to the other end of the casing, a filter within thecasing having a light colored absorbent wrapper surrounding said filter,dark colored indicia means on the outer surface of said absorbentwrapper and visible through said transparent casing, said indicia meansbeing adapted to be rendered imperceptible when said absorbent wrapperbecomes saturated with tar passing through said filter.

7 f 2,193,439 3/40: Van DOren 13.l

' 3 V 2. Acigarette holder as defined in claim 1, and a 1,464,155 3/49RfiSSCll second indiciameans on said absorbent wrapper which 2,787,2384157, "Lilce. V

is imperceptible before thefilte; is used and which is 2,954,7835 10/60Lbert ;i 7

adapted to become fully visible when the filter is iully';v 4 r V V 7 7saturated with tar. I J ,5 k c IG l PATENTS References Cilfed byytheExaminer V V '7 r j V UNITED STATES PATENTS V SA LK R N,P 'ys i -i1,554,353 l 9/ 25; Johnson 131 407 fiJOVJOS'EPH S;REicHvgExammhgf t 7

1. A CIGARETTE HOLDER COMPRISING A TRANSPARENT CASING, A MOUTHPIECECONNECTED TO ONE END OF THE CASING AND A TUBULAR CIGARETTE RECEIVINGSLEEVE CONNECTED TO THE OTHER END OF THE CASING, A FILTER WITHIN THECASING HAVING A LIGHT COLORED ABSORBENT WRAPPER SURROUNDING SAID FILTER,DARK COLORED INDICIA MEANS ON THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID ABSORBENTWRAPPER AND VISIBLE THROUGH SAID TRANSPARENT CASING, SAID INDICIA MEANSBEING ADAPTED TO BE RENDERED IMPERCIPTIBLE WHEN SAID ABSORBENT WRAPPERBECOMES SATURATED WITH TAR PASSING THROUGH SAID FILTER.